The Prom, Chapter four
Chapter four of The Prom. This story was modified from Daring Dan's "Innocents Aboard". Story At a hospital, Wildcat hung up the phone and walked back over to where Molly Rey and Ramón sat, the boy was crying quietly on a couch in the waiting room, "Ms. Cunningham Riven and Baloo are coming right over kiddies, everything's gonna be OK man" the mechanic said, gently patting Ramon's head, "it was terrible Wildcat! he was so sick, he couldn't even talk, I was so scared!" the scamp sobbed, "I bet" Wildcat said sympathetically, "don't you worry kiddo, Kit's gonna be just fine, you'll see, Kit's as tough after all" Rey assures hugging Ramon to calm him down. The three adults had rushed on over to the hospital when they were notified. "Calm down, Baloo! your panicking isn't going to help Kit right now" Riven chided as he and the two bears rushed up the steps and into the hospital, "easy for you to say! but it ain't your kid in the emergency room, and they don't even know what's wrong! so don't tell me ta calm down dude!" Baloo snapped, "you're right, I'm sorry" Riven said soothingly patting his arm, "but just try to keep cool OK, for Kit's sake?" he adds, "I bet it was the pills!" Baloo groaned whacking himself on the forehead, "what pills?" Rebecca asked puzzled, "aw! Kit seemed like he had a fever last night, and I gave him a couple o' baby aspirins that were rotten! I bet that's what did it Becky! I put my own kid in the hospital!" the pilot moaned, "that's silly! I'm sure that wasn't it Baloo, don't blame yourself, kids get sick sometimes, no matter what we do" she admonished, "yeah" Riven agrees, Baloo shook his head angrily, "don't you see guys? even if it wasn't the pills, the kid was still sick! I shouldn't have let him go to school today, I should've stayed home and took care o' him! what's a fat, stupid o' pilot like me know about looking after a kid guys? I let him down, I ain't got no right being a caretaker...." Baloo rants, "Baloo, that's enough!" Riven said firmly as they approached the emergency room desk, "you can't blame yourself for everything that happens to Kit, sometimes things just happen, and it's no one's fault, the important thing is that Kit's alright" he adds and placed his flippers on his shoulders, "now, you need to pull yourself together and be strong, for Kit, alright?" he finishes, the bear nodded gently eyes closed, and approached the nurse at the window, "excuse me mam, I'm here about my kid, Kit Cloudkicker is his name-" Baloo began, "Ms. Cunningham!" Wildcat called softly, turning she saw the mechanic sitting with Molly Ramon and Rey on a sofa in the waiting area, she rushed over to them, "guys, what's happened exactly?" she exclaimed as Molly hugs her, the mechanic scratched his head, "well, like, the hospital called me, an' said that Kit got brought in on an ambulance man, an' these three were with him, so I came down here, and they'd already put Kit in some kinda room, an' they were here, an' Rey said you guys was, like, out, so I figured I'd better keep calling you every few minutes 'til you got home, so that's what I did" Wildcat explained, "how's Kit?" Rebecca whispered, "I dunno man: they wheeled him in somewhere, an' said they were gonna check him out, an we've been waiting ever since" Wildcat adds, "kids, what happened?" Rebecca asked them gently, Ramon was still crying, "we, we dunno Ms. Cunningham: Kit's real sick; he got sick and fell down when we were going for ice cream" Rey said quietly, Baloo walked over looking angry, "these clowns won't tell me what's wrong with Lil-Britches! said they're checking him out, and the doctor will be out in a little while, I don't got a little while! that's my son in there!" he fumed collapsing wearily into a chair, "Rey said he got sick when they were out getting ice cream, she said he just fell over" Rebecca sighed watching Rey cradling Ramon, then a tall horseshoe-crab-man in a white lab coat walked over to them, carrying a clipboard and wearing a practiced smile (it was not uncommon for horseshoe-crabs to provide medical purposes and uses), "I'm Dr. Gosselin, are you the Cloudkickers?" he asks, "actually he's adopted" Baloo corrected quickly, not feeling in the mood for explanations, "what's up doc? how is he?" he adds, "well the boy has acute appendicitis, he's being prepped for surgery right now" the goose said looking down at his clipboard, "my goodness!" Rebecca exclaimed having heard of that disease before, "acute...is that serious?" Baloo whispered, "it can be" the horseshoe-crab said somberly, indeed appendicitis is actually fatal if left untreated, "but these two probably saved his life" he said to Molly and Ramon, tweaking the former's nose gently, "apparently they were outside when the boy collapsed, they ran and got help right away, and we were able to get him to the hospital quite quickly" he finished, "you did that all by yourselves?" Rebecca asked them impressed, "Rey told us to and we got the ice cream man to help" Molly said softly, "is, is Kit gonna be OK?" she asked, "yeah doc, cut to the chase, is my boy gonna be alright?" Baloo asked urgently, "well..." the doctor began, sitting on the armrest of Baloo's chair, "surgery is never completely without risk, unfortunately the boy's appendix has already burst, so we have no choice but to operate right away, under ideal conditions we prefer to plan for surgery obviously: keep the patient off solid foods, bring his fever down, but once the appendix has burst, we have to operate immediately, the boy is running a fever, but we've given him antibiotics, and he appears to be in generally excellent condition, all of those things will help him pull through" he adds, "p-pull through?" Baloo stammered hiding his face in his hands, Rebecca hugged him gently, the doctor smiled, "I know you'll worry, but this is a very common procedure, we're fortunate that we've caught it as soon as we have, we won't know until we operate, but assuming there are no further complications Kit will be in surgery for about two and a half hours or so" he states, "can I see him first?" the pilot asked desperately, "no, I'm sorry, he's in a sterile area, and surgery will begin in a few moments, as soon as we're finished I'll come out and let you know, and you can see him a few minutes after that, alright?" the doctor offers, "OK" Baloo said with a weary sigh, "wait did the kid say anything, when you brought him in?" he asks, and the doctor smiled, "he was in a lot of pain, but yes: he asked if these three were alright, and he said to be sure we called Mr. Wildcat, even remembered the number, I'm amazed he was that coherent, considering his condition, he sure is a strong one" the doctor explains, "you don't know the half of it" Baloo whispered, the doctor stood smiling at the little group and left. Approaching midnight, they were still there waiting, Baloo was too anxious to sit still, while Rebecca and Riven just sat tired, Molly Rey and Ramon curled up asleep on a chair together. Wildcat too had dozed off, and was snoring gently in the large armchair. "I can't take this" the pilot said softly getting to his feet, which he's been doing all night, "what?" Rebecca said groggily as the kids shifted in disturbance, "I can't take it Becky: sitting here, not being able to do anything, I'm a bear of action! if I see a problem, I fix it, if air pirates are on my tail, I lose them, if I bust an engine, I bring the plane down safe, but I'm sitting here, and I can't do nothing! I'm telling you guys, I can't take it!" Baloo rants, "get used to it Baloo, it never changes, sometimes there are things no one can fix" Riven replied, Baloo only shook his head, "you know what makes it even worse? I'm sitting here thinking 'why didn't I see it coming? why wasn't I more careful? what if I'd paid a little closer attention to Lil-Britches yesterday? what if I'd looked past his tough act and seen as he was really sick?' he wouldn't be here now guys! and what if he...he-" Baloo expressed, "get used to that too, that never changes either" Riven sighed, "you're not helping Riven!" the big grey bear said, "Baloo every parent acts like this when something happens to their child: worrying for your child's safety all the time, going crazy because you can't control everything that happens, blaming yourself every time something goes wrong, and second-guessing yourself about what you should have done differently, that's all completely normal" Rebecca supplied as the pilot ran a hand over his face wearily, "does it ever get any easier?" he asks, Rebecca laughed softly, "sometimes" she jokes, "is it worth it?" he whispered, Rebecca said nothing for a moment, and looked down at the kids, gently stroking Molly's cheek, "do you even have to ask?" she replies and Baloo knew it can be, how could anything possibly be worth all this agony? he thought of Kit's expression after he'd landed the Sea Duck for the first time, and he smiled, he thought about comforting the tearful cub in New Fedora after the boy had nearly broken his heart by leaving him for a week to travel with Daring Dan's airshow, he thought about sitting back at Higher-for-Hire on a quiet evening, after dinner, Kit snuggled into the big old armchair next to him, the both of them lazily reading the paper, or talking, or slowly falling asleep, he knew he'd endure a lifetime of nights like this one to experience even one of those moments again, and he'd have a lifetime of those moments, if only... "Beckers, if anything, I just don't think I could take it, if-" he croaked voice breaking with emotion, "he'll be fine, he's stronger than that: if he didn't have the will to survive he wouldn't have made it this far, he'll be fine, he'll pull through" she adds when a door opened and Dr. Gosselin stepped out, a surgical mask dangling around his neck and the front of his smock smeared with blood. Baloo Riven and Rebecca looked at the smock in horror as the horseshoe-crab approached, seeing their concern he smiled apologetically, "oh sorry about that! I came straight here from recovery, I didn't think you'd want to wait any longer than you had to-" he began, "darn right!" Baloo gasped urgently as he stood, "how is he doc?" he asks, "he came through surgery just fine Mr. Cloudkicker-" he explained, "it's Baloo actually" the bear interrupted, "sorry, go on please!" he requested, "sorry, Mr. Baloo, but he came through surgery just fine, he's a strong one like I said, we removed his appendix of course, and our major concern in cases like this is infection in the surrounding tissue due to the rupture of the organ, however in this case, we appear to have operated in time, and cleaned out the area sufficiently, he'll be on antibiotics for a time of course, but I don't expect any major problems" the doctor explained, "oh thank god!" Rebecca exclaimed as the kids and Wildcat stirred awake, Baloo impulsively hugged the horseshoe-crab, who laughed, "that's great doc, just fan-dang-tastic! can we see him now?" he expressed, "certainly: he's been out of surgery for about twenty minutes, I stayed with him in recovery for a while, just to make sure he came through the anesthesia alright, he'll be pretty groggy, but you can see him if you like, follow me" Dr. Gosselin replies, Baloo hugged Rebecca, who kissed him on the cheek, and they followed the doctor down a long hallway, Wildcat and the kids trailing close behind, Gosselin opened a door and they entered a dimly lit room with a large bed in a corner surrounded by two intravenous units, they approached the bed quietly, and laying in it was Kit breathing slowly and deeply, looking for all the world like he did any morning before he woke up, sometimes Baloo liked watching him sleep, which can last for an hour. He leaned over and gently grasped Kit's hand as the others crowded in behind him, Kit stirred slightly and blinked, looking disoriented, "sh! you're OK Lil-Britches, you're just fine..." Baloo whispered, "where am I?" Kit whispered barely audible, "you're in the hospital Lil-Britches: you had a bum appendix, scared us all real bad for a while! but they took it out, and you're just fine now!" Baloo grinned, "where's-" Kit began, "they're right here Kit! Molly and Ramon got help for you when you were sick!" Rebecca said with a smile, holding the sleepy tykes over the railing on the bed, where they reached out and touched Kit's paw, Kit smiled slightly looking up at them, "good work you two, guess you were my babysitters tonight" he jokes, his voice a little stronger, "hey Kit, how you feeling man?" Wildcat asks grinning down at him and grabbing his paw, "hey W.C., pretty tired...and my gut hurts a little" the teen answered, Dr. Gosselin put a hand on Baloo's back, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but the young man needs a lot of rest right now: we'll want to keep him here for a couple of days, and after that he can recuperate at home, now if we could just let him to sleep..." he requested, "but he and Rey here were gonna go to a prom this Friday" Riven informs, making the others realize Kit will have to miss it, "oh really? well sorry, but he'll have to miss it, appendicitis-recovery usually requires up to a week" Gosselin laments, "it's fine: we weren't enthusiastic about it anyway" Rey dismissed, "oh really? well personally I don't think an interspecies-relationship is bad" Gosselin humors, "gee, thanks" Rey expressed in offense and walks off, Rebecca bent over and kissed Kit gently on the cheek, "I'll come back and see you tomorrow morning OK? get some sleep sweetie, we love you!" she smiled, "thanks, Rebecca" he replied weakly, "can I have a minute doc? just a minute?" Baloo asked softly, "just one minute, please" the doctor said sternly, then smiled and he left with the others, Baloo quietly slid a chair over and sat next to the bed, grabbing Kit's paw in both of his, "so, how you're doing kiddo?" he asked gently, "I'm fine" Kit expressed, the adult-bear delicately stroked the teen's hair for a moment, as if he were afraid that he might break him if he weren't careful, "boy I don't mind telling you kid, I was pretty scared there, for a while, if anything had...well-" Baloo began, "sorry I scared you" Kit grinned wearily, "nah Lil-Britches, I'm the one who's sorry! I don't...I'm sorry you had to go through this, I should've seen...should've known you was sick, I should've taken better care of you-" Baloo answered huskily, "no!" Kit protested with as much verve as he could muster, which wasn't much, "I didn't tell you anything, I didn't know either, it just showed up from nowhere, it's not your fault papa-bear, I was thinking about you guys, the whole time I was sick, I never felt too scared, 'cause I knew you'd be there..." he adds, "Mr. Baloo, it's time!" the doctor whispered quietly but firmly as he cracked the door and poked his head through, Baloo chuckled and wiped away a tear, "they're making me go kiddo, they seem to have some idea you could use some sleep, doctors huh?" he jokes, then bent over the teen and kissed him on the forehead, "I'll be here when you wake up, OK?" he vows, "OK" Kit grinned, "love you" the big grey bear said with an embarrassed chuckle, and squeezed Kit's paw gently, "love you too" Kit answered as sleep began to overtake him and his eyelids fluttered, then closed. Stay tuned for The Prom, Chapter five Gallery Category:Fanon for the talespin series Category:Fan fiction